The present invention relates, in general, to exercise devices, and more particularly, to rehabilitative exercise devices and methods.
Exercise equipment has long been used to rehabilitate injured persons. However, current systems yield only limited functionality since they limit the freedom of movement allotted to a user.
It has been shown that functional exercises consist of functional activity as well as proprioceptive awareness. Proprioceptive awareness consists of three elements vestibular, visual, and somatosensory, the later two providing the most feedback for body/joint awareness. Injury primarily impairs somatosensory receptors, therefore, decreasing a patient""s kinesthetic awareness. Functional weight baring activities causing joint deformation and loading of soft tissue will help to reestablish a patent""s proprioceptive feedback. (Lephart, SM, Pincivero, DM, Giraldo, JL, Fu, FH, The role of proprioception in the management and rehabilitation of athletic injuries. Am. J. Sports Med 25. (1) 1997: 130-7. Methods to increase the patients proprioception are commonly done with the use of restive bands, but have only been performed in a unidirectional patterns. To date there is no research available assessing proprioceptive and resistive training in multiplanar motion. (Spence, AT, Multiple-plane surgical tubing/band kicks. Strenth and Conditioning, 20. (6)1998: 55-7.
According to Lephart et al. rehabilitation programs should contain a proprioceptive component, which is recommended to promote dynamic joint and functional stability (1997). Lack of proprioceptive feedback results with incomplete or inadequate neuromuscular pathways, which can predispose a person to reinjury. Resistance from multiple angles is believed to cause greater disruption to balance than resistance in a single plane. This disruption in balance forces the body to respond to additional stimuli, which increases proprioceptive development (Spence, 1998).
The goal of physical rehabilitation is to return a user to their level of activity as soon as possible. This includes the ability to once again perform daily tasks, such as ambulation, climbing stairs, and other activities. To accomplish this goal, rehabilitation exercise that simulates normal activity of a user seems to be most effective. During many functional tasks, the lower extremities are used in a closed kinetic chain (with the foot on the ground) which is very demanding on the muscles, ligaments, and other structures. It has been shown that muscular adaptations are directly related to their activities, and it is therefore believed that initial rehabilitation training should focus on functional tasks. Despite this, open kinetic chain activities are often the most common initial exercise performed in rehabilitation, even though closed chain functional exercise may provide faster return to normal activities after injury to the lower extremities and back. Unfortunately, the use of closed chain activity early in the rehabilitation process is often limited by the inability to bear weight on injured or compromised structures. Full weight bearing on these structures can increase pain, inflamation, and tissue damage, which would prolong the healing process.
To optimize the rehabilitation of a user an exercise device should maximize the benefit of functional activities while minimizing the overload effects of full weight bearing by using a process of partial body weight support (xe2x80x9cPBWSxe2x80x9d). The PBWS aspect of the exercise device would give the necessary support for a user that is unable to stand or walk due to weakness, disequilibrium, or paralysis. The device would also provide the prospect of performing functional activities in an upright position without having to completely weight bear. Current PBWS devices restrict the amount of area to accomplish necessary movements, thus the recovering sports injury user is restricted to the limited space, disabling him from performing necessary sports specific activities. Current PBWS devices also do not allow progressive resistive training and exercises, specific training, and plyometrics.
Therefore, a device which provides the versatility of PBWS for a user along with the prospect of progressive resistance all while working in multi planar directions would be a useful device.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to alleviate the above-described problems and shortcomings of the exercise devices heretofore available to physical therapists and athletic trainers.
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a user performs functional tasks during training or exercise using the exercise device. The exercise device has a housing and a harness assembly that is worn by the user. The harness assembly is located substantially within the housing and is connected to the housing by at least one biasing member. The biasing member has a longitudinal length, a first end, and a second end. The biasing member is in cooperation with the harness assembly at the first end of the biasing member and with the housing at the second end of the biasing member.
In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a user performs functional task with a rehabilitation exercise device during rehabilitation training or exercise. The rehabilitation exercise device has a housing and a harness assembly that is adapted to be worn by a user. The rehabilitation exercise device also has at least two biasing members. The biasing members have a longitudinal length, a first end, and a second end. Each of the biasing members are in cooperation with the harness assembly at the first end of the biasing member and with the housing at the second end of the biasing member. However, the biasing members are in cooperation with the housing at a height higher than the harness. In an additional embodiment, the biasing members are in cooperation with the housing at a height lower than the harness.
The exercise device of the current invention is further directed to a method of exercising and allows the user to perform functional tasks during training or exercise. The first step is to put the harness assembly on the user. The second step is to attach the first end of the biasing members to the harness assembly. With the user located within the housing, the third step is to attach the second end of the biasing members to the housing. The user is now secured within the housing by the harness assembly and biasing members and may now perform functional tasks during training or exercise. An appropriate program for using the exercise device should be selected by one skilled in the art.
Advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which simply illustrates various modes and examples contemplated for caring out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other different aspects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are illustrative in nature and not restrictive.